I read The Poppy War based on people I knew who really liked it and said it was a very mature and complex examination of war and nationalism.
Nope! It’s YA and handles those subjects like a YA book; I would have been challenged at 16 probably. What they meant was that it’s violent and grim. Not the same thing as complex.
To be fair, words infecting people is a whole ass plot point, and a pretty central one.
“You prefer this place, you really do, don’t you?”